1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system for directing the separation of test samples, such as blood, for use in diagnostic assays.
2. Description of Related Art
In blood testing, it has been conventional practice to separate collected blood (the parent sample) with a centrifuge into a blood clot and serum, and then to subject the serum (the child sample) to various tests for the diagnosis of disease, which aid in determining the appropriate clinical treatment.
When carrying out such tests, testing personnel are required to place the test tube containing a sample in a test-tube rack. While comparing a written request for each test to be performed with the sample number, the personnel take a number of aliquots from each test tube, depending on the number of tests to be performed. Because the division and the correlation between the proper test and sample number must be performed manually, the conventional method has the problem that an aliquot of the child sample may be taken out erroneously. This problem is particularly apparent when the tests to be performed on the various samples differ.
There is a need for a device capable of eliminating the errors which occur when division and correlation of the requested test with the sample number are carried out by the conventional method.